Transborder Electricity Infrastructures and Geopolitics
Vielschichtige Collage: Umzäunter Weg, der ein Solarkraftwerk durchschneidet; Arbeiter*innen, die den umzäunten Wegs entlangschreiten; Grenzschutzbeamter mit Walkie-Talkie. Artwork: Colnate Group, 2023 (cc by nc).
The energy map is being redrawn. This project aims to understand how initiatives to extend renewable electricity grids across national borders inflect geopolitics. Designed to sustain the planet, these grids catalyse and respond to changing configurations of world power. To address this nexus of infrastructure and geopolitics, the project investigates the Sun Cable proposal for renewable energy export from Australia’s Northern Territory to Singapore in relation to similar infrastructural undertakings in the Mediterranean and Northeast Asia. The research is significant for specifying how the energy transition spurs the emergence of large infrastructural systems that reorganise the spatial dynamics of globalisation. Intended outcomes include insights into how transborder renewable grids shift regulatory frameworks to meet challenges facing populations, economies and environments. The expected benefit is knowledge relevant to government and industry stakeholders engaged at the interface of energy policy and foreign affairs.
Researcher(s):
- Brett Neilson
- Ned Rossiter
- Tess Lea
- Anna Pertierra
- Sean Dockray
- Jack Qiu
- Tetz Hakoda
- Myung Ho Hyun
- Sandro Mezzadra
- Manuela Bojadzijev
Funding: $704,099 by Australian Research Council (ARC)
Period: 2025-2029
Contact: Brett Neilson
